Exploring for new sources of oil near the Amazon just ahead COP30 will harm Brazil's image as a climate leader, said Marcio Astrini, executive secretary of the Climate Observatory, a network of 133 environmental, civil society and academic groups.
Brazil´s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is pressing the country's environmental regulator to approve exploratory drilling near the mouth of the Amazon River, defending the push by saying new oil revenues could finance a transition to green energies.
But before exploring, we need to research and see if there is oil and how much oil there is,” Lula said Wednesday during an interview with radio station Diario.
In May 2023, Ibama, the environmental regulator, rejected a license, citing issues such as a weak wildlife protection plan in the event of an oil spill that could affect one of the world’s most biodiverse regions.
Offshore drilling near the Amazon would certainly draw scrutiny to Brazil, which is hosting the next United Nations climate summit, COP30.
